Elkman
Senior Member
Periodically I will load 50 or 80 pound bags of concrete into the bed of my truck. Having to toss them 4 feet to get them past the 2 foot tailgate is not easy, nor is it fun to pull them back out of the bed. Often will get inside the bed and while kneeling I will move them to the tailgate and then get on the ground and grab them one by one off the tailgate. With a split tailgate I could stand a couple inches instead of a couple of feet from the edge of the bed.
As for any flexing when the tailgate is up, that depends on the stiffness of the truck frame. Pickup frames are at least 3 times stiffer now then they were with prior generations of trucks and was a necessary improvement to allow for increased towing capacity.
https://news.pickuptrucks.com/2018/01/ram-beefs-up-frame-suspension-for-new-1500.html
I did notice an increase in the payload capacity for the 2019 1500 pickups and evidently that is in part due to the stronger frame.
As for any flexing when the tailgate is up, that depends on the stiffness of the truck frame. Pickup frames are at least 3 times stiffer now then they were with prior generations of trucks and was a necessary improvement to allow for increased towing capacity.
https://news.pickuptrucks.com/2018/01/ram-beefs-up-frame-suspension-for-new-1500.html
I did notice an increase in the payload capacity for the 2019 1500 pickups and evidently that is in part due to the stronger frame.